Monday, July 13, 2015

The following interview was made possible by the NW
Tastemaker, a culinary travel publication forthcoming from Northwest Travel
Magazine. To read more interviews with the best chefs in the Pacific Northwest,
visit Northwest Travel Magazine and
TableTalkNorthwest.com.

Photo by Jeremy Fenske

Troy MacLarty, Owner and Executive Chef
of Bollywood Theater

Previously of
Chez Panisse, Chef Troy MacLarty opened Bollywood Theater in Northeast Portland
in 2012. The restaurant simultaneously filled the Indian-food gap in Portland
and served up authentic Indian street foods that were hard to find anywhere in
the United States. Finding a particularly fast following was the Kati roll, a
specialty from Calcutta, involving either marinated meat or paneer cheese
wrapped in paratha bread with pickled onions, a spicy tomato sauce, and green
chutney. Yes, Chef MacLarty brought an Indian burrito to Portland.

Chef MacLarty is
an expert at importing rare ingredients that cannot be locally produced, and
this includes Indian culture. The two Bollywood Theater locations have the feel
of India, from the steel water glasses to the Bollywood films playing nonstop
in the bathrooms. That said, the restaurant sources everything else that it can
locally. Notably, both locations offer counter service, with patrons busing
their own tables, too.

1.How do you describe Northwest
cuisine?

I
would say that the food scene in Portland is really personal. Diners
gravitate towards places that have a lot of character and have put a lot of
heart into their business. Places that are "in it for the money"
don't seem to do as well. Also, I would guess that there are more restaurants
in Portland owned by chefs than in any other city in America. If the chef wants
to create an Indian or Thai restaurant, or focus on just one dish, this is the
city in which that can happen. That has led to an eclectic and evolving food
scene that follows the whims of individuals. I don't know that I could have
opened Bollywood Theater in another city.

2.Who are six of your favorite
purveyors that you regularly work with? Why do they stand out?

Being
an Indian restaurant, it can be difficult to find products that live up to our
expectations. Because of this we have created many of the products we
use. We have a small Indian market inside our Southeast Division location.
For this market we create our own line of products, from snacks, like Cheewra
and Sev, to fresh Paneer and Ghee. We are working on chutneys, sauces and additional
snacks to expand our line.

We've
also been working in conjunction with the Reluctant Trading Experiment to
create a line of spice masalas based on our blends. These masalas will be
blended in India and shipped quickly to maintain the best quality. Currently,
we are working on a Chai masala, Tikka masala, Garam masala and Vindaloo masala
and expect them to be available by this summer (2015).

One
way we differ from many of the Indian restaurant in our area is our use of
local and seasonal products. We buy from local farms like Dancing Roots and
Groundworks Organics.

3.When you go out for a nice meal,
what are two or three of your favorite spots?

My
new favorite place in Portland is my friend Brian Leitner’s restaurant LeVieux. Brian
and I were on the line together at Chez Panisse, and he really captures the
ingredient driven, simple-yet-detailed food that I crave on my days off. I
can’t wait to go back.

When
I’m looking to splurge I walk up the street to Ave Gene’s for vegetables,
salads and the best pastas in town. Nobody fills the gap between farm and table
better than Chef Josh McFadden.

4.Who are two other Northwest chefs
that you admire? Why?

Now that I own two places, I have the most
respect for those who took the plunge and stuck their neck out. I greatly
admire Nong Poonsukwattana for her “do one thing and do it well” focus. Nong’s
Khao Mon Gai is definitely the place in town I eat most. I’m definitely biased
towards counter service places that do it right. Rick Gencarelli opened the
first Lardo sandwich shop around the time that we opened the first Bollywood
Theater. Since then, he's opened two more Lardo's and the pasta restaurant
Grassa. I've been impressed with his ability to manage their growth while
maintaining his sanity. And you couldn't find a nicer guy in our food scene.

5.In your opinion, is there an area
of Northwest cooking that doesn't receive enough attention?

In
my opinion, what Portland does best is the $18-$24 entrée. Our rents are
relatively low, which allows us to serve exactly what we want. We generally
don’t have to put a bunch of unnecessary ingredients on a plate to justify a
$35 price tag. I love that Portland generally chooses delicious food over
crystal and silver.

6. Looking
toward the future, what are you most excited to do in the kitchen?

I am excited that there are more and more
delicious take-out places popping up in Portland. Some of the best food in town
can be found at food carts or counter-service restaurants. I don’t often have
the patience or time to sit down for an extended meal. I’d choose the Blazers
on TV and a box of Nong’s chicken over any fancy restaurant in town.

In the kitchen I am most excited when teaching
and sharing my knowledge with others, and a great deal of that has nothing to do
with Indian food. Showing a young cook the road they could take to be
successful really excites me. We start with our people. Good food follows.

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Ravenous Traveler

Culinary travel stories from around the world since 2006. Returning to rural Maine to practice the back-to-the-land values I was raised on as of December 2018. Most recently restaurant critic for WWeek and editor of Eater PDX. Ravenous Traveler®, #RavenousTraveler www.mattiejohnbamman.com